


Three Two One

by okemmelie



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 10:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20864972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie
Summary: Emma's waited thirty years to finally meet her soulmate. When her counter finally reaches zero and two guys walk in the door, she's more than a little confused.





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> do you ever have a dumb concept for something and then speed write it in three days instead of focusing on your other writing projects that you promised yourself would be done by the end of sepember because same. anyway, enjoy this dumb soulmate au

The last time Ted saw his timer, he was fifteen and he thought he was in love with a girl from his English class. He had asked her out a million times and she had always said no, then reminded him that they’d already met and that their timers still hadn’t reached zero. Then she had met her soulmate a month later and Ted had gone black by getting one of those bracelets that let him cover up the timer.

His mom always told him to take it off. She’d met his dad, her soulmate, and they’d always been happy together: Ted would be so much happier if he just lived his life like he was meant to. That, of course, only made him more stubborn.

Now he was twenty-eight and ignoring fate had become a big part of who he was. It wasn’t about heartbreak anymore and it wasn’t about showing his mom that he could make his own choices. It was about living his life to its fullest and it was very much something he intended to keep up.

Three of his coworkers had already found their soulmates and only one of those seemed to live in unproblematic relationships. He fucked Charlotte, who had met her soulmate, Sam, in high school and later married him, regularly and cheating absolutely wasn’t unproblematic in his opinion, but whatever. That wasn’t his business. Bill had already gotten divorce from his soulmate twice and while, sure, they were working on things and considering getting back together, it was just a whole mess and he refused to get involved. At least Melissa’s relationship seemed functional.

Then there was Paul. Paul, who had never seen his timer and who had never wanted to. Paul, who was Ted’s closest friend in this world and who had agreed to go get coffee with him at lunch today.

*******

Paul had never seen his timer. His parents probably weren’t soulmates, but they had a happy marriage and they had never wanted to leave each other. They’d gone black long before they’d met and they’d fallen in love in what they called ‘the real way’. Paul had gone black before he was able to comprehend what that meant and when his parents had asked if he wanted to see his timer, he had said no. He wanted to be like them: Happy and without stress. Of course, the stress came anyway, but at least his stress was different.

He’d fallen in love a few times and sure, none of it had been successful, but maybe love wasn’t meant to be successful. Bill said that was stupid: Love was love. It was just meant to be. Then he would ask why he didn’t just take his bracelet off and Paul always just shrugged. He had no need for it. It would come when it came.

Today was a regular Monday in Paul’s regular life and he’d asked Ted if he wanted to go grab coffee at Beanie’s. Ted had said yes, because of course he had. He always did.

Paul reached out to open the door for them and Ted pushed his way in through the door at the same time Paul tried to enter, which made him sigh. He was about to call his friend out for being an idiot, when he was interrupted by the entire coffee shop looking intensely at him and an unknown voice from behind the counter: “God dammit! Which one of you is it?”

*******

Emma had grown up impatiently waiting for her counter to go down. Thirty years was a long time to wait to meet the one, especially when her younger sister, Jane, only had to wait for sixteen.

As soon as Emma turned eighteen, she left Hatchetfield. She wasn’t going to meet the one there, that was for god damn sure. She’d meet them somewhere cool while she was doing something cool, so she went backpacking. And she watched her counter impatiently, but it didn’t go any faster.

Jane had a life together from the beginning and she had met her soulmate in high school, and Emma hated it. So she didn’t come home for the wedding. She didn’t come home when she became aunt Emma. Then when Jane died and Emma went home for the funeral, she started to understand why Jane had met her soulmate so early: They wouldn’t have had time together otherwise.

After the funeral, Emma stayed in Hatchetfield and she started to forget about her counter. At least until she got a job at a coffee shop and one Monday morning while handing a cup of hot chocolate to a customer noticed that her timer had four hours and twenty-six minutes left. She was going to meet her soulmate in Hatchetfield, because she’d asked Nora if she could please get the day off to try to drive as far away as she could and she’d gotten a hard no on that one.

But she was excited and could hardly shut up about it all day, but at least the customers seemed excited for her too. Even Nora seemed to soften up when the timer came near zero. With less than three minutes left, Emma was having a hard time focusing on her job. So she didn’t. She just told anyone who would listen about the experience she would have in a few minutes and by the time there were thirty seconds left, the entire coffee shop was eyeing the door.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

These were her last moments without a soulmate.

Six.

Five.

Four.

She wondered why anyone would come to a coffee shop when they knew, they were about to meet their soulmate. But she was their soulmate, so who was she to complain?

Three.

Two.

One.

The door opened and in came two guys. Her soulmate was a man. She could live with that. But there were two of them and even though they were similar, none of them seemed to be as excited as she felt. When none of them said anything for five solid seconds, she couldn’t help but ask them herself: “God dammit! Which one of you is it?”


	2. The Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sadly, the chapter titles are only going to go downhill from here. sorry fam

“God dammit! Which one of you is it?”

They had barely entered Beanie’s before someone from behind the counter shouted at them. Okay, maybe she didn’t quite shout, but Ted put his hands up in front of him in a defensive stance as if she had anyway. “Woah there, tiger. Which one of us is what?” Paul looked equally confused but elbowed him in the side anyway. “Ow! What the fuck, dude?”

The girl behind the counter was starting to look confused too. She was new or maybe Ted just hadn’t seen her around before. Actually, everyone in the small coffee shop seemed to look slightly confused. After a moment of awkward silence, the girl spoke: “My soulmate. My timer hit zero when you two stepped through the door. Which one of you is it?”

Paul looked like he was about to say something but before he had the chance, Ted took his hand and held it up to show her the black bracelet on his arm. After letting go, he pulled up his own sleeve a bit and revealed his own bracelet.

“Goddammit!”

Ted shrugged. He wanted to be sympathetic towards her, but it was honestly funny, and he couldn’t help it but smile a bit to himself. “Anyway, I’ll have a caramel frappe and he’ll have a black coffee.” He winked at her. “Thanks babe.”

*******

Emma. The girl’s name was Emma. She wasn’t wearing a name tag, but she told them anyway and while Ted didn’t seem to pay her much mind, Paul listened to her. Of course he did. The poor girl had told apparently told the whole coffee shop she was about to meet her soulmate and then she’d gotten unfortunate enough to end up with either Ted or him.

Paul had promised her they’d come back after work and Ted had sighed loudly, then agreed to go because Paul had offered to pay for his coffee. Then they’d gone to leave, and Paul had apologized to her for the inconvenience and given her a big tip.

Ted hadn’t tipped.

Sometimes he wished his friend wasn’t such an asshole. Especially because Emma was really pretty and Ted had left what was possibly the worst impression, but that was what it was like to be his friend.

“So you gonna hit that?” Ted asked on their way back to Beanie’s after work.

Paul sighed loudly. He didn’t know what he had expected but he hadn’t expected this. And maybe he should have, because this was exactly the kind of bullshit that Ted so often asked. “Dude. Come on. Emma thought she was gonna meet her soulmate today, don’t be a fucking asshole, alright?”

Ted tilted his head a bit to the side and raised an eyebrow at him. “Who’s Emma?”

That only made Paul sigh louder. He had hoped Ted had only pretended not to pay her much mind to play it cool or something, but apparently his friend really was an idiot. “The barista. From earlier today. One of our soulmates.”

“Yeah, yeah. You gonna hit that or what? Because if you’re not gonna, I might. Just saying.”

*******

Going back to work after the disappointment that was Paul and Ted was hard. It really wasn’t how she had imagined this day going. At least they’d promised to come back. Or, well. Paul had promised they’d come back. With a little luck, she could talk them into taking off their stupid bracelets and Ted would still have a counter counting down on his wrist. Ted being her soulmate seemed like an uphill battle and boy, did she not think she was ready for that.

At least Nora went gentle on her the rest of the day.

They showed up half an hour after Emma had gotten off from the day and joined her at the corner table. Ted winked at her again and she rolled her eyes at him. Then he sat directly next to her, which he really didn’t have to – and it seemed like he knew that, because he seemed really smug about it. Asshole.

At least Paul sat opposite of her like a normal fucking person. He even offered her an apologetic smile. She appreciated it.

The three of them ended up talking for two hours that afternoon. Ted refused to take his bracelet off and while Paul didn’t look as against it as Ted did, he didn’t take it off either. With a little effort, she thought maybe she could get him to do it later. And later was better than never.

Ted left after two hours and she didn’t even pretend she wasn’t happy about that. God, that guy was an asshole. She told Paul that she thought so and he laughed with her and even agreed. When she asked why he was still friends with him, he shrugged. You get used to it, he told her. And maybe that was true, but that didn’t make him less of an asshole.

Eventually, it turned dark out and Emma’s coworker, Zoey, came to their table and asked them to leave: Beanie’s was closing and while Emma did work there, she wasn’t at work right now so she couldn’t just stick around. Paul and Emma shared a hug outside, exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet up later.

While it wasn’t exactly what she had hoped for today, it was better than nothing.


	3. The Choice

“No fucking way, dude.” Ted slammed his beer into the table and a little bit spilled. He saw how Paul’s eyes went to the liquid and Ted made the decision to ignore it. If Paul was going to pretend, he just wanted to have a drink with Ted after work, then attempt to talk him into taking off his bracelet, Ted was allowed to be difficult, he decided.

Paul sighed. He often did. “What if I just take mine off? Would that be okay?”

Ted thought about it for about two seconds, then shook his head. “Nope. No, because what if your timer is still there? Then I’ll know. And I don’t want to know.” He really didn’t. Paul might have grown up with the bracelet, but this had been a choice for him. And he wasn’t going to give that up just because Paul had a crush on a chick, he’d met a month ago.

“But you won’t. I won’t tell you. I’ll just look for my timer and put the bracelet back on. You won’t even have to think about it.”

Now it was Ted’s time to sigh. He even threw an eyeroll in there, just to let Paul know that his plan was really fucking stupid. “I’ll know. You’ll act differently no matter what the outcome is. Besides, what happened to Paul and Ted, Ted and Paul, best friends together against the whole soulmate bullshit?”

“Bill’s my best friend.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said. I’m your best friend. And if you’re gonna say boring fucking Bill is your best friend  _ and  _ take away my ability to choose how I live my life all in one day, that’s not fucking cool.”

“So if I say you’re my best friend, I can look at my timer?”

“Just say it’s Bill and give me another fucking beer. You owe me that much.”

*******

“Ted’s being difficult.” And maybe Paul should have known better, but that didn’t make Ted any less difficult.

He sighed and Emma gave him a pat on his shoulder. It was weirdly comforting. “Ted’s always difficult. I might have only known him for a month, but he’s literally been difficult every single moment I’ve spent with him. He’s an–“

“–Asshole. Yeah. I know.” He offered Emma an awkward smile and she smiled back innocently, then pulled him further into her apartment. It was tiny, but Paul didn’t mind. It was cozy. He liked it there.

They eventually ended up on her couch. They often did. “Why don’t you just take a look? You don’t have to tell him, you know? Plus, it’s not like he gets to decide how you live your life, you know?”

Paul sighed. He knew. “He’ll know. Trust me, he’ll know. He might be an idiot, but he’s not dumb. And I promised him I wouldn’t look. And it’s not like me looking will solve anything. If my timer’s still going, you’ll have to live with Ted being your soulmate. And if it’s not, we still don’t know if it’s you or someone else.”

It was a dumb situation, but Paul often managed to put himself in dumb situations. It was one of his talents. Whenever he spent time with Emma, he wished he’d just said yes to look at his timer back when his parents asked. Because deep inside, he knew that his timer had run out. He could feel it. This thing between him and Emma, however innocent it was right now, it was right. It felt fight. It had to be right.

She didn’t push it anymore. Not that night, anyway. They just made popcorn and put on a movie, and somewhere in the middle of it, Paul’s hand sneakily found hers.

*******

Paul took her hand an hour into the movie: Or an hour too late, in Emma’s opinion. She’d put her hand in her lap and just waited for him to make a move and while he did eventually make one, it was late. But it was cute and he was cute, and it wasn’t like she was going to refuse holding his hand just because he was slow.

Paul took an hour to take her hand and Emma took five seconds to interlace their fingers.

Then she smiled up at him and he smiled back, and at that point she knew. Paul was her soulmate. She’d suspected it for a while and she’d hoped for it as well, but now she knew. Or at least she felt like she knew and if she couldn’t get a definitive yes, an uncertain yes was good enough for her. At least for now.

By the time the movie finished, she had forgotten its name and what it was about. She’d been thinking too much and been too distracted by Paul to really be able to focus on the movie as well. She had to get up early in the morning to open Beanie’s and she couldn’t let him stay for longer, despite really wanting to. Maybe he’d say yes to meet up with her tomorrow as well. Judging from how he looked at her, she figured he’d say yes.

She let him to the door, only letting go of his hand to let him put on his shoes and jacket. He said goodnight and looked at her a little too long not to kiss her, but he didn’t kiss her. He just awkwardly nodded and then went to open the door.

He was halfway down the hallway before she spoke up: “Hey, Paul?”

“Hey, Emma?”

She ran down the hallway and jumped into his arms and it didn’t seem like he expected it, because they both fell. It didn’t hurt, but she wasn’t the one who landed on the ground, so maybe she wasn’t the one who should be saying that. At least he laughed. “What was that for?”

She kissed him instead of answering and he seemed content with that.


	4. The Relationship

They’d known Emma for about two and a half months when Paul announced at the office that the two of them were officially dating, which was a big turning point for how interested Ted was in getting to know her. He’d never planned to give her much attention, but now that she was dating his best friend, he was willing to put in some time.

Okay, some of it had to do with the fact that she worked at his usual coffee place and that it didn’t take much out of his usual day-to-day routine to go bother her, but Paul didn’t have to know that. If Paul only thought he was interested in giving his girlfriend a chance, Ted would consider that a victory.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to develop their own daily routine. Ted would walk into the coffee shop smiling, and he’d offer her a wink and find a way to call her babe or sweetheart. She’d roll her eyes at him, make him a chai ice tea and flip him off when he left. It was a good time.

After dating for half a year, the couple was brave enough to invite Paul’s office friends over to Paul’s for dinner and wine. A mistake, but a mistake Ted appreciated. Charlotte brought her Sam, Bill cancelled last minute to go to something with his ex-wife, and Melissa and her girlfriend could only stick around for an hour. While it was sad Melissa couldn’t be there longer, Ted really didn’t mind that Bill had cancelled.

Ted arrived a little late, because of course he did. There was no way in hell he was going to show up on time to a lame dinner party filled with couples as the one single. That was simply impossible. Emma opened the door. “Hey Emily.”

Emma closed the door.

After what felt like a few hours, but what was probably more like a minute and a half, Paul opened the door and gave Ted an apologetic smile. “Sorry. She doesn’t like it when you do that.”

“Is babe better?” Ted often called people babe, but Paul had mentioned that he didn’t like it when he called Emma that in front of him and as much as Ted loved being an asshole to everyone he met, he had a tiny bit of respect for Paul. At least enough to ask before he screwed him over.

Paul sighed. “What about Emma? Does Emma work for you?” And Ted knew that the true answer was no. He was going to be an asshole to her no matter what he told Paul right here and now. So he just nodded and hoped he wouldn’t be called out on it later.

*******

He and Emma had dated for a year when he once again asked Ted if they couldn’t just take off their bracelets and check, because this thing was getting real and he really didn’t want to disappoint her. It was a nice gesture and thought, she told him, but she didn’t think Ted was going to agree.

She was right.

Then, on the night of their one year anniversary, Paul took her out for dinner at the same restaurant they had visited the day Paul asked her if she wanted to be official. It was a nice throwback and they had a nice time.

One their way back from the restaurant, he popped the question. Not the big one, but a big one anyway: He asked her if she wanted to find an apartment together. Luckily, she said yes.

Paul had pretty nice friends, because they all said yes to come help him move. Then Bill’s ex-wife said she wanted to get back together again and Bill cancelled. Then Sam got called in for work at the precinct and he cancelled. He would have been a nice addition, but at least Charlotte was still coming. Melissa got sick and her girlfriend didn’t know them well enough to go alone, so she didn’t come either. He supposed Ted, Charlotte, Emma and him was a decent group of people.

Ted and Emma developed a quick system of moving the boxes through the hallway and the day went by much faster than Paul had thought it would. He offered to buy his friends dinner as a thank you, but Ted and Charlotte both said they had plans and disappeared to leave the rest up to Emma and him.

They ended up cuddling up in their new bed in their new apartment together for the rest of the night instead of unpacking and while Paul theoretically preferred getting things done, he’d be honest and admit he enjoyed spending time with Emma like this. Moving in with her was the right choice. She was the right choice.

*******

“Ted.”

Paul was visiting his parents for the day, but Ted was sitting on their couch and Emma was pretty damn close to yelling at him. This was their home, and how was she supposed to feel comfortable in it if Ted kept misusing his spare key privileges?

He didn’t even look away from the TV to recognize that she had come home. She’d often told Paul that she thought he was an idiot and this just proved to her that she was right. Ted was the worst.

“Seriously, Ted. What the fuck?” She was seriously getting annoyed at this point. If he had called in advance, maybe she would have been cool with this, but he hadn’t and she wasn’t. And then he had the nerve to not even answer her? Asshole.

He eventually spared her some time and explained that his father was in the hospital, so he had just needed some distraction and possibly a friend in the shape of Paul. And suddenly Emma was a bit more understanding. She still wasn’t happy with his choices, but she could respect them and she decided to let him stick around until her boyfriend came home and was able to attempt cheering him up.

Paul did eventually come home, but at that point Emma and Ted were in the middle of a rather intense game of Mario Kart. They had spent the entire day together on that couch and had even ordered pizza. Emma was shocked to realize that she had had a good day, but she had. She beat Ted, which resulted in her cheering and him laughing at her. Then he said his goodbyes. He hugged Emma goodnight and even whispered something that sounded awfully close to a ‘thank you’.

When he had left, Emma kissed her boyfriend and then made him help her clean up. Emma would probably have insisted he should do it himself if it had been Paul having Ted over, but Paul helped without complaining and she appreciated it.


	5. The Proposal

Emma and Paul had been together for three years, and Ted had gotten used to it. Sure, it sucked that Paul wasn’t single alongside him, but at least his girlfriend wasn’t a total loser. He only respected Paul and Melissa’s choices.

Bill’s three times ex-wife was a wild ride and yeah, maybe it was Ted’s fault that they had broken up this time according to Bill, but she had chosen to sleep with him despite being married. That wasn’t on him.

Soulmates were absolutely bullshit. It didn’t work for Bill and it didn’t work for Charlotte either, because he was in her bed right now and had been here almost every week for the last year and no matter how many times he had told her to leave Sam for him, she’d said no. Sam was her soulmate. It was total bullshit.

He really didn’t want to get out of her bed, but his phone had been constantly buzzing for the past ten minutes: So he sighed, kissed Charlotte’s forehead and went to get it from his pants on the floor.

There was about thirteen missed calls from Paul, three from Emma and a message from Paul, informing him that Emma had said yes to marry him.

Good for them, he thought and turned off his phone. Then he rejoined Charlotte in her bed and asked if she was sure she didn’t want to go on just one date with him. She was sure. He hadn’t expected anything else, so he just shrugged and kissed her.

*******

“If you’re going to marry her, you have to look at your timer.” Bill had invited him over for dinner and Paul had said yes, but now he was slightly regretting it. “Nothing good will come of marrying her without knowing for sure.”

That only made Paul laugh nervously. He wasn’t sure what to tell his friend, so he took a sip of his water to stall. “Nothing good will come from looking either, Bill.”

Bill raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, you sure can’t know that without at least trying it, Paul. If she’s your soulmate, that’s great. Good for you. But if she isn’t, you’ll meet someone better for you someday and you’ll just end up breaking her heart.”

He had a point.

Paul drank some more water while trying to come up with something to say. He wanted to be with Emma. And Emma wanted to be with him. Why couldn’t that just be enough for the world?

“You know, my parents are still together. And they haven’t seen their timers for forever either. It’s possible to be happy together without being soulmates for sure.” Paul always admired his parents’ relationship. They were the best couple he knew, so he felt like he had made a valid argument.

Bill just sighed. Maybe he hadn’t. “Yeah, but both of your parents made that decision. Emma didn’t. She’s waited her whole life to get to know her soulmate and it might not be you. If you turn out not to be her soulmate and she wants to leave you for it, wouldn’t you rather she did that now?”

Now it was Paul’s turn to sigh. “I guess.”

“Besides, Ted’s not your soulmate. You don’t have to spend the rest of your life with him. He’ll get over it if you take a look and if he doesn’t, who cares?” Paul supposed it was fair that Bill didn’t like Ted, but Ted was his friend and he’d made a promise. He cared.

Bill continued to make plenty of fair points over dinner and Paul went home fidgeting with his bracelet and reconsidering if he had made the right decision.

*******

“Listen up, buddy.” Emma pushed past Ted the moment he opened the door to his apartment and he let her. “See this thing right here?” She shoved her hand with her engagement ring in Ted’s face. “I’m getting married in a week, Ted. In a week. And my fiance is really stressed because he wants to look at his timer, but  _ someone  _ made him promise he wouldn’t.”

At that point, Ted had helped her hang up her jacket and she’d kicked off her shoes. She appreciated that he just let her come into his apartment to yell at him, because boy, did she have more yelling to get out.

They walked to his living room as she continued: “I get that you want to continue living blindly and while I think it’s stupid, I respect it. But you gotta respect what Paul wants, man. And what I want. We’re supposed to be your friends. And you’re supposed to be ours.”

Ted nodded along to what she said, but he did also leave her on his couch for a few moments. If it hadn’t been because he brought red wine, she’d probably gotten mad at him for just disappearing like that.

“I’ll talk to him,” he said while pouring both of them a glass. He handed her hers first and she smiled at him. She appreciated it. “On one condition.”

Of course. She shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up. Ted always had to find a way to be difficult. “What? What is it that you demand? Please don’t say something stupid.” He was probably going to say something stupid. He always did.

“I get to sit next to Charlotte at the wedding.”

Yeah. That was the exact kind of stupidity she expected from him. But she shook his hand on it, promised him a seat next to Charlotte and hoped that he’d keep his end of the deal.


	6. The Wedding

It was the day of the wedding and the happy couple had decided to get married in a church. Ted hadn’t really expect anything more from them, but it was whatever. This was their day, after all. He wasn’t here to make a scene. He was here for the open bar and to rest his hand on Charlotte’s thigh.

He had never been more happy that Sam couldn’t make it to something, because shamelessly getting to be flirty with Charlotte in public was truly what life was all about. They’d gotten comfortable next to each other on a bench while they waited for the bride. He’d asked Charlotte if she was sure she didn’t want to leave Sam and perhaps marry him instead, and she had said she was sure.

Emma and Paul was a good couple, he thought to himself. He wasn’t going to tell him that he thought that, of course, but he did think it. They’d probably have ended up together even in a world where soulmates weren’t real. But soulmates were real and it sucked, because he was certain Charlotte would have left Sam for him if they weren’t.

“Aren’t you worried she might be your soulmate?” Charlotte asked him while Paul and Emma exchanged vows.

He shrugged, but didn’t say anything. He’d never really felt anything for Emma outside of friendship. Paul had. And Paul was the one up there marrying her.

Paul started taking off his bracelet and Ted took Charlotte’s hand in his. She let him and suddenly, Ted wasn’t listening to what they were saying up there. Emma seemed like she was looking at Paul’s wrist, then she looked out at the crowd and Ted offered her a smile that was half there because he was happy for them, half there because of Charlotte.

*******

Something weird had happened during this last week. Emma had gotten home late and slightly drunk, and she had happily kissed him and then gone straight to bed.

Then, the next day, Ted had insisted to spend lunch break with him and he’d told him, that he was cool if he looked at his timer. As long as he didn’t do it near Ted and didn’t tell him what he saw, it was fine. He didn’t know what had caused his friend to change his mind, but he appreciated it.

It was the day of his wedding and he still hadn’t looked. He had actually made the decision not to look at all. Instead, he would surprise Emma during their vows. She just had to walk down the aisle first.

And that she did. Paul always thought she looked beautiful, but today was something special and he could feel his knees going weak. He was marrying the most amazing girl in the world today and it was just now dawning on him that they were doing this for real.

They exchanged their vows and Paul let her in on his secret plan: He wasn’t going to be the first one to see his timer. She was.

He removed the bracelet to his best ability while looking away and she laughed a little, before she helped him. God, he loved her. The silence while she looked was a lot to handle and he started regretting his choice.

Then, he felt the bracelet close again and he looked back at Emma, who was smiling at him widely. That had to be good news, right?

He decided that it definitely was, because she whispered ‘ _ You’re my soulmate _ ’ to him before she kissed him.

*******

Paul hadn’t mentioned his timer or any conversation between him and Ted for the entire week leading up to their wedding and she was getting worried. If Ted had screwed her over, she was putting him as far away from Charlotte as possible once they got to the location after church. He deserved that, she decided.

She’d take the talk with Paul after they’d gotten married, though. That was more important to her. Waiting sucked, so when she was finally walking down the aisle, she was more than happy. Seeing her soon-to-be husband up there was the most exciting thing she’d ever experienced.

They exchanged their vows and then Paul revealed, that he’d decided to let her be the first one to see his timer outside of the doctors. It was a nice gesture and it made her smile.

Taking off the bracelet was a clumsy journey, but she hadn’t expected anything less from him. She didn’t know why, but she closed her eyes before she could see the timer and just held onto Paul’s hand for a moment.

When she opened them to look, her smile fell. Three hours and nine minutes left. Fuck.

The only thing she could think of doing was desperately searching for Ted in the crowd. He would know what she was meant to do. Probably. Hopefully. When her eyes found his, he gave her a smile. She was pretty sure that meant he was encouraging her to marry Paul despite probably having figured out what her stressed expression meant.

So she put the bracelet back on his wrist. She could convince him to keep it on for another three hours, she was pretty sure.

She wanted to marry him. She was going to marry him. They’d figure things out and make it work, because that was what they did. They’d always made it work. She smiled at him and he smiled back. “You’re my soulmate,” she whispered. She shouldn’t lie, but she did.

Then she kissed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank y'all so much for reading and for coming on this dumb journey with me!!


End file.
